The Attack (2012)

Directed by: Ziad Doueiri
Written by: Ziad Doueiri
Starring: Ali Suliman, Evgenia Dodena, Reymond Amsalem
Rated: R

We begin with the attack. Tel Aviv is rattled by a bombing in the heart of the city, and renowned surgeon Amin Jaafari (Ali Suliman) is faced with the maimed bodies of a dozen schoolchildren. It's a wrenching scene, compounded when it is discovered that it was a suicide bombing that took the lives of many. Amin is an Arab, a non-practicing Muslim who was married to the beautiful, Christian  Siham (Reymond Amsalem). The two lived a blessed life, fully integrated into the Jewish-heavy Tel Aviv, with money and prestige. But Amin's life is shattered when he is brought into the morgue of his hospital to identify Siham's body--a body whose remains shows signs of having had a bomb strapped to it.

Skirting the repetitiveness of films about grieving spouses and the ambiguities of a story about Palestinian terrorists, "The Attack" combines the two, sticking its fingers into the open wounds of a nation which is not a nation to explore the possibilities of man learning to cope with the horrible truth that his wife of over a decade was secretly an extremist. Disillusioned and angry, Amin recounts the love story with his wife trying to pull clues out of a sham marriage as he also tries to pick up the pieces of his present situation.

The film is nearly crippled with the amount of questions it poses, which is good as the situation is never cut and dry. Religious, political and social problems emerge almost instantly and they are never really answered. In this case that isn't really the job of the filmmaker; it is not so much a movie with a point of view and a case to make, but rather an impetus for discussion and argument. It's an ongoing dialogue with the audience where the facts are presented but not the bias. It demands to be thought about and talked about post-viewing.

Initially I hated Siham, for who in their right mind could take the lives of children in such an unabashed publicity stunt? There isn't a hope that Israeli nationalists would be turned from their cause in the face of such danger, and even if that were the case the tension wouldn't dissipate. The entire area is a simmering pot waiting to boil over, and her actions make no logical sense. Some label her a psychopath, and we are inclined to believe them.

A bit over halfway through the film, however, Amin travels to another city where Palestinians are the majority in order to get answers about the whereabouts of Siham the day before the attack. Throughout the city he sees poster after poster with a picture of his wife, wreathed in clouds and birds. For the people of the city she has done a blessed thing, advancing the cause to give their people a homeland. So is she a murderer or a martyr? In an area positively soaked in religion and politics where everybody has a clear cut side, there are no clear cut answers.

The drama takes no detour in Ziad Doueiri's beautifully acted piece, and I believe that this could prove to be an immensely important film. Hearkening back to political works such as "The Battle of Algiers", it brings us beyond the news headlines and shows the human component behind the violence. Films like this which force the audience to look at both sides of the issue with as much heart as possible are pure goods in the world of cinema.

"This will never end," Amin states early in the movie, and he is probably right. Think of it as an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object. Or for what it's worth, here's my take on things: The nation is a coin. One side is Israel, the other is Palestine. A man takes that coin and tosses it into air, catching it in a clutched fist. Which side will he find when he opens his fingers? It doesn't matter, he still has a quarter in his hand. It would be more prudent of him to determine how to spend the money.

3.5/4